A Case Study on the Roles of Storytelling and Narrative in Movie English for Low-Intermediate EFL Learners

This study examined how low-intermediate L2 learners overcome limited English proficiency through a story-centered approach emphasizing storytelling and narrative using movies. The participants were five college students with TOEIC scores below 600, all non-English majors. The movie A Rainy Day in New York (Allen, 2019) was used as teaching material. This two-month case study comprised three tests and one written report. The first test assessed whether participants could use storytelling and narrative as contextual aids, while the second assessed their ability to utilize vocabulary not only as a linguistic skill but as a means of constructing their unique worldview. The third test evaluated whether the participants could recall the surrounding context by leveraging narrative salience. The results showed that the participants performed excellently on the first test, regardless of TOEIC score differences. In the second test, they demonstrated engagement with the movie’s story rather than focusing solely on vocabulary learning. In the third test, the fact that the participants successfully constructed context using knowledge accumulated from the two earlier stages indicates that narrative salience effectively supported their recall. These findings suggest that storytelling and narrative compensate for linguistic limitations, enabling low-intermediate learners to maintain engagement and sustain learning.